229 posts categorized "spring training"

The Phillies catching situation got even more interesting this week, and definitely more challenging for the front office.

Carlos Ruiz will be a free agent at the end of this year, and there's a chance the Phillies were (and might still be) at times thinking about not re-signing him.

That idea was made more difficult this week.

The organization has shut down Triple-A catcher Tommy Joseph for the rest of the season. Ruben Amaro Jr. said he is still having symptoms from a concussion he had in May. Concussions can have a cumulative affect, and it's not Joseph's first.

"That’s a big hole for us next year," Amaro said. "Whether it’s Chooch
coming back to us and being our No. 1 catcher or whether it’s somebody
else, I don’t know if we have that internal candidate right now because Tommy
didn’t really have a chance to develop. Frankly, I don’t know if Tommy would
have been ready even if he had a full year. He’s still young. It’s an issue and
it’s something we’re going to have to address, whether it be a trade or free
agency or Chooch that remains to be seen."

Amaro couldn't rule out the need for Joseph to switch positions, but the GM admitted that would be a tough move to make.

"He’s played some first base, but he’s going to have to
really hit to play first base," Amaro said. "I think he can be a good offensive player, but
he’s a much better offensive player behind the plate than at first base. It’s a
possibility, but he’s really going to have to whack it."

Surely, the Phillies had been hoping Joseph would have progressed enough this season to get a September call-up this year. I could have envisioned him being the second catcher on the team's 25-man roster in 2014.

Maybe the hope was that Ruiz would have been willing to come back for two years, where in the first year (2014) he'd serve as the starter and mentor to Joseph, and in the second year (2015), he'd become the back-up to Joseph.

Now that scenario seems unlikely. And the Phillies don't really have another catcher that seems ready. They haven't been convinced of the progress of Sebastian Valle, who ended 2012 with Lehigh Valley but has been with Double-A Reading all year this season. He's hitting only .211.

Cameron Rupp has taken over for the IronPigs. Although he's hitting .250 this year with Lehigh Valley, he's been hurried through the system, mostly because of Joseph's injury (and other injuries to Phillies catchers that caused a trickle-down affect). He started last year playing for Single-A Clearwater. It's hard to imagine he'd be ready to catch 30-40 games in the big leagues next year.

“We’re just being
very, very conservative with [Joseph]," Amaro said. "There’s no reason to put him in harm’s way."

The Phillies’ latest acquisition tells me they really want
to get rid of either Delmon Young or Michael Martinez.

The team claimed outfielder Casper Wells, 28, off waivers. This will be the fifth team he’s played for
this season, including spring training.

Wells will join the team in Washington, D.C., this weekend, during which a corresponding roster move will be made.

Wells is a lifetime .236 hitter in 265 major league games
dating back to 2010. He’s hitting all of .167 (11-for-66) this year in at-bats
with Oakland and the Chicago White Sox.

“Casper is someone that we've
had our eye on since spring training,” GM Ruben Amaro said in a press release.
“He's a versatile outfielder who adds depth to our club and can be a power
threat off the bench.”

Wells has 25 career home runs and a liftetime .407 slugging percentage.

Wells has appeared in 232 games in the outfield, just 26 of
which have come in center field, a hole the Phillies have been trying to
replace since Ben Revere went on the disabled list right before the All-Star
break.

Right field has been problematic, too. Young is hitting only
.262, 22 points below his career average before this year, and has recently
been benched a few times in favor of Darin Ruf, who never played right field
before this week.

Martinez has been shuffled north and south on the Northeast
Extension but never hits as well in Philadelphia as he does for Triple-A Lehigh
Valley. After his RBI single in the second inning Thursday, he’s hitting .167
(2-for-12).

Wells spent spring training with the Seattle Mariners before being
claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays off waivers on April 10. He did not
appear in a game for the Blue Jays before being designated for assignment and
acquired by Oakland on April 22. He played in three games with the A’s
before he was acquired by the White Sox on April 29.

As Ruf was walking through the food room grabbing a drink
this afternoon, he heard Juan Samuel call his name.

“He told me I was playing right field and I laughed,” Ruf
admitted. “I thought he was joking.”

It was no joke.

For the first time in his big league career and just the
second time in his life, Ruf is starting and playing right field for the Phillies
tonight.

Although Ruf went out to shag fly balls in the outfield
after Samuel broke the news to him, his only other experience playing out there
was one game during winter ball. He never took fly balls out there during
spring training or took part in drills out there.

“Hopefully it will be
a smooth transition,” he said.

The obvious question becomes why not play Dom Brown out
there? Brown has played 107 games in the
big leagues in right field and clearly has the stronger arm.

“Dom Brown’s improved a lot in the outfield,” manager
Charlie Manuel said. “And he’s been playing left field and his improvement has
actually come in left field. I think that his season speaks for itself. Right
now, we want to definitely find out what our options are for right.”

No one would directly say that Delmon Young’s playing time
would be decreased for the rest of 2013. But Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro
Jr. each emphasized the importance of seeing the team’s younger players, namely
Cody Asche and Ruf.

You may not even see
Delmon Young (or others) on the roster when the season ends.

“I think probably as we go along, there will probably be
some more changes on our team as we go down through August and September
because the teams that definitely are in contention and trying to win, they
might come in and maybe take some of our players,” Manuel said. “There might be
a few things going on, but I don’t know.”

Amaro confirmed the idea of there being more personnel
changes.

“It’s possible,” he said.

REACTION TO BASTARDO

Antonio Bastardo, who tonight will begin serving his 50-game
suspension for being part of the Biogenesis list, has certainly made things even tougher on a
bullpen that has more issues than anyone cares to think about.

“We
are disappointed, obviously,” Amaro said. “It’s not the first guy and maybe not
the last guy – hopefully it’s one of the last guys. We can’t do anything about
it other than hope that these guys maybe learn their lesson. I think what’s
happening is we’re seeing the program working, and hopefully it will continue
to deter players from doing what they’re not supposed to be doing.”

In his last 14 games (15 IP), the left-handed reliever owned
a 1.20 ERA. He allowed six hits, seven walks and struck out 20. Opponents were
hitting only .122 against him. He had four holds, one save and one win since
July 2.

“The
fact that he’s not going to be able to perform for us, that hurts us,” Amaro
said. But things happen. It’s like when a guy goes on the D.L. It was a choice
he made, and you can’t make choices for them as far as this is concerned.
Obviously he didn’t make the right choices.”

Amaro
said Bastardo got in touch with him Sunday and warned him something might be
happening.

Manuel
said he was “totally surprised,” about Bastardo’s suspension.

HALLADAY

The Phillies continue to insist there is no timeline for a possible
return this season for Roy Halladay.

It doesn’t sound like it’s that far off, though.

Halladay, who had shoulder surgery in late May, threw
yesterday in a five up-and-down session. Amaro thinks the plan will be for him to
do that one more time and/or possibly create a simulated game for him.

“It went pretty well for him,”
Amaro said. “[We’d like to have him] face batters [in a simulated game] and
ramp up the adrenaline he would have and see where it goes.”

Halladya also took batting practice with the pitchers Tuesday.

SCHIERHOLTZ MAKES HIS RETURN

Nate Schierholtz, who the Phillies non-tendered over the
winter, is making his first appearance at Citizens Bank Park since the club let
him walk.

He’s hitting .268 with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs for the
Cubs. If he had put up those numbers with the Phillies this year, he’d had
entered tonight’s game tied for second in RBIs and would be third in home runs.
His batting average would be fourth behind Ruf (.299), Michael Young (.273) and
Chase Utley (.269).

Schierholtz was acquired from San Francisco for Hunter
Pence at the trade deadline last year. He said he thought the time he missed
because of a broken foot (he was out from Aug. 13 to Aug. 30) hurt his chances
of getting to stay in Philadelphia.

Schierholtz hit .219 in his first 11 games in Philly before
getting hurt. When he returned for the last 26 of the season, he hit .324. But
of those 26 games he appeared in, just six were starts.

“It totally took away any
chance that I had to make an impact here,” he said. “[When I returned] I was playing
sporadically; I didn’t have much time to make any impression.”

HOWARD UPDATE

Amaro said Ryan Howard is in Clearwater rehabbing his left
knee, which he had arthroscopic surgery on to repair torn meniscus. He has been throwing, but has not been
cleared to hit yet. He’s been on the DL since July 6 and had surgery July 10. The
original time line for his return was 6-8 weeks. The six-week mark is Aug. 21.

“Right now we’re just trying to get him as close to 100
percent as possible,” Amaro said. “We’re not going to bring him here and have
him play in Philadelphia unless we think he’s absolutely 100 percent and ready
to go.”

When Dom Brown was called into Charlie Manuel’s office and
saw Ruben Amaro Jr. standing alongside his manager, the Phillies left fielder
had only one thing on his mind.

“Once I got called in the office I was
thinking about trades first,” Brown told reporters Saturday.

Then Amaro made a few jokes and broke the
news to Brown, who had been voted in by his peers via a player ballot to be a
reserve on the All-Star team. It is Brown’s first selection.

Pitcher Cliff Lee will be making his
fourth appearance in the All-Star game. He was chosen by manager Bruce Bochy.

Brown is second in the N.L. in home runs
with 22, ranks fourth in total bases (176), fifth in RBIs (60), fifth in
slugging percentage (.545) and is tied for sixth in extra-base hits (39).

“All my teammate came up and
congratulated me for sure. That felt great hearing that from the guys,” Brown
said. “They know I have been through ups and downs and to get this far is
great.

Lee also was chosen for the All-Star game
in 2008 and 2010-11. He is second in the league innings pitched (131 2/3), is
third in fewest walks per nine innings (1.4), is tied for third in wins (10)
and is fifth in strikeouts (119).

“It is something to be proud of,” Lee
told reporters Saturday. “To play in the major leagues alone is something to be
proud of and hard to do but when you are one of the [guys chosen], that is
special. It means you are one of the best of the best and it is something to be
proud of.”

Some quick highlights from Roy Halladay’s 20-minute session with the media from the dugout at Citizens Bank Park. It was the first time he spoke since having shoulder surgery May 15.

--First and foremost, there is no timetable for his return.

“We can’t give timetables because really at this point it’s a week to week process,” he said. “We set up a plan based on how last week went and what we want to accomplish the next week and we go from there. There could be bumps in the road but as of right now, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be back this year.”

--He’s pretty much starting from scratch. He’s working six days a week in Florida and will be coming up here from time to time to be with the team.

“You start out with (arm) movements and then you start getting into your arm exercises and doing all the stuff you do during the season,” he said. “I’m going to go where I need to go to get the best work that I can get done. And be here as much as I can to be around the team as much as I can. I’m trying to juggle both as much as I can. But when you’re spending 3-4 hours working out, the trainers here just don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to one player that’s not playing in games. Once I get closer to a more normal program, I will be up here more.”

--He’s not worried about his range of motion.

“In talking to [team physician Dr. Michael] Ciccotti, my range of motion is better than it has been in two or three years since they first saw me here,” he said. “I don’t think they have the measurements from Toronto. But since I’ve been here, the range of motion is better than it has been at any point since I been here.”

--Halladay said he went into the surgery stress-free and understood that it could be the end for him. He was at peace with that.

“Whether it was the end of my career or turned my career around, I was going to be OK with that,” he said. “I felt like that I had done everything that I possibly could have done to that point. At that point, it was out of my hands. I wasn’t rattled at all.”

--But don’t get the wrong idea. He’s still wants a ring.

“The desire for me is to compete and win a World Series .. that’ll never change,” he said. “I think the older you get, the only difference is, you have a family and you have kids at home and I think the biggest challenge for players is as what point does your family need to become your priority? As far as baseball desire, that’s always going to be there.”

Ruben Amaro Jr. wouldn’t call it a setback, but an injury that was originally supposed to cost Chase Utley only 15 days has now been extended.

“He didn’t have any [additional] diagnostics done or anything,” Amaro said. “It’s just a slow process. It’s the first time he’s ever done this. It’s still tender. It’s just tricky, so we have to be real careful and cautious. I still think he feels tenderness in there, so we’ve got to be careful – not let it get to the point where it becomes more of an injury.”

Utley was originally placed on the disabled list last Thursday, May 23, with what the team called a mild oblique strain. In a release to the media, Amaro said the injury had a two-to-four week recovery time with Utley being on the two-week end of that.

Manager Charlie Manuel had a slightly different understanding.

“When he first got hurt, they told us it was a three weeks to a month,” Manuel said.

Amaro added that the longer Utley sits, the more likely he is to need to go out on a rehab assignment.

“What are we going to do? We can’t do anything about it,” Amaro said.

MICHAEL YOUNG GOES ON BEREAVEMENT LIST

Third baseman Michael Youngwas placed on the bereavement list before Wednesday’s game. To take his place on the 25-man roster, the Phillies added Lehigh Valley IronPigs second baseman Cesar Hernandez.

Hernandez leads the International League in triples and had the most multi-hit games on the team (16). He’s not expected to arrive until 7 or 7:30 tonight.

“He’s got some talent,” Amaro said. “He runs well. He’s a switch hitter. He’s not a Punch and Judy – he can hit the ball into the gaps from time to time. He’s a pretty good baserunner. He can steal bases. He’s a guy that, frankly, I like quite a bit.”

Michael Young has to be out for a minimum of three days and no more than seven days.

INJURY UPDATES

-Amaro said he thought catcher Carlos Ruiz(hamstring strain) caught some bullpens yesterday, but it still a ways away from running, which will be the true test. “He still feels it a little bit,” Amaro said. “But the pain is dissipating, so he’s starting to do a few more things every day.”

-John Lannan threw very well this morning in extended spring training, according to Amaro. “He felt like his first outing, he didn't feel like he had his mechanics,” Amaro said. “He was much improved today.” He is supposed to throw three or four more innings Saturday in extended spring training again. If it goes well, the club hopes he’ll start a rehab assignment on the June 6.

-It might be minor, or it could be serious. Prospect Adam Morganhas been shut down because of shoulder soreness. “We're still waiting on it,” Amaro said. “He had some diagnostics done and yesterday. Ihave to talk to [team physician Dr. Michael] Ciccotti about his arm. There is an issue. I don't know how serious it is yet. I'll talk to Mike by the end of the day.”

Dom Brown was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending May 26.

The Phillies left fielder hit .348 (8-for-23) with two doubles, one triple, two home runs, seven RBIs and four runs scored in six games to claim his first career Player of the Week Award.

Brown has talked extensively this season and during spring training about how much hitting coaches Steve Henderson and Wally Joyner have helped him with his swing, the placement of his hands and his approach and mindset.

Brown is the first Phillies position player to win the weekly honor since Raul Ibañez for the period ending July 10, 2011. Pitcher Cole Hamels won for Aug. 13-19, 2012.

For the week, Brown led the league with a .783 slugging percentage, was tied for first in RBIs and was second with 18 total bases.

Maybe this latest move will help straighten things out in the bullpen. It's worth a shot.

The Phillies sent right-handed reliever Phillippe Aumont to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and called up fellow righty Mike Stutes.

Stutes, who made his mark in the Phillies bullpen during the 2011 season, spent much of last season hurt and wound up needing surgery. He was fighting for a spot in the relief corps. during spring training, but didn't make the 25-man roster out of camp and instead, started the year in Triple-A.

He has been stellar during the month of May. In those 10 outings (14 1/3 IP), Stutes has an ERA of only .063, having allowed just one earned run. Opponents are hitting only .157 against him. He's given up eight hits, three walks and have fanned 14.

Stutes will be available to pitch Friday's game in Washington. Aumont will be available for tonight's game at Coca-Cola Park.

The Phillies' bullpen is tied for the second-highest ERA (4.63) in the National League. Their .269 batting average against is second worst and their 1.47 WHIP is the highest in the league.

Stutes can't be a savior, but maybe he can get calm things down out there.

The Phillies already had sent down Raul Valdes and called on B.J. Rosenberg for some help.

Ryan Howard did not play because of a sore left knee. He is having an MRI on Monday.

"Yesterday is when it kicked in more than normal," he said. "It's been acting up since spring training. But I’ve been able to tough my way through it."

Charlie Manuel said Howard was available to pinch hit today, but added that he was trying to stay away from him. And his availability tomorrow is in question.

"I'm kind of leary [about starting him tomorrow]," Manuel said.

Carlos Ruiz, who left after the second inning with a right hamstring strain, is staying in Philadelphia to have an MRI on Monday morning. He said he is flying to Miami on Tuesday.

In case the team decides to put Ruiz on the D.L. right away, they are sending Lehigh Valley catcher Humberto Quintero to Miami to be with the team tomorrow.

"It was a bad feeling because it surprised me when that happened," said Ruiz, who said he felt something pop as he headed from second to third in the second inning. "And it happened like that (he snaps his fingers). "It was the last thing that I expected to happen because I was feeling great."

Mike Adams, who last pitched on May 10, still could land on the disabled list, but the Phillies aren't sure one way or another. He played catch Sunday for the first time in a week.

"Everything felt good," he said of his mild, mid-back strain. "The shoulder felt like s**t. But the back felt great. I feel really good. We'll see how it goes. That's all I can tell you.”

After Chase Utley and Charlie Manuel made everyone laugh when they posed for a picture with The Wiggles during batting practice, assistant GM Scott Proefrock addressed a more pressing issue: a Phillies signing.

The Phillies signed right-hander Carlos Zambrano to a minor league deal on Wednesday with the hope he might be able to fill the void left by Roy Halladay, who was scheduled for shoulder surgery today in Los Angeles.

Zambrano will report to extended spring training in Clearwater, Fla., by the end of the week when he will start throwing bullpens.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna work out but people laughed when they saw his name resurface last week dude can still pinch!” former pitcher Cliff Floyd said to me on Twitter (he and Zambrano played together in 2007 for the Cubs.

Zambrano, who turns 32 on June 1, has solid career numbers overall, but usually has the spotlight on him for other reasons. The native of Venezuela has had multiple dugout blowups, including one in July 2010 with Derrek Lee. The end result was then-Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella sending Zambrano, who was that day’s starting pitcher, home before the game was over. Zambrano was later suspended indefinitely by the Cubs.

Proefrock explained the signing by saying the team wanted to add some addition starting pitching depth, and after seeing him throw on Monday, the Phillies decided to make him an offer.

“Would we have done this without Roy? I can’t say we wouldn’t have because we’ve talked about it with other guys in that situation to add some depth and experience in Triple-A,” Proefrock said. “It was not the ideal set of circumstances to call Jonathan Pettibone up like we did. But we were under circumstances where we had limited options and we felt that he was the best option we had and he’s performed pretty well up until this point.”

Zambrano, who’s 132-91 with a career ERA of 3.66 in 12 big league seasons, pitched for Miami last year where he was 7-10 with a 4.49 ERA. This winter he played in the Venezuelan Winter League and then in the World Baseball Classic.

Proefrock downplayed the issues and temper tantrums Zambrano had in the past and emphasized that with it being a minor league deal, the team doesn’t have a lot of money invested in him as the Cubs did when they signed him to a five-year, $91.5 million contract in 2007.

“George Velandia, one of our instructors in the minor leagues, was a GM with that club and had some interaction with him,” Proefrock said. “We got positive feedback with everyone who has interacted with him recently. I don’t anticipate any issues because from our perspective the guy is committed to working hard and getting back to the major leagues. If that’s going to be an issue then …”

Zambrano is a three-time All-Star who led the N.L. in wins in 2006 with 16. He hasn’t had an ERA below 4.00 since 2010.

Proefrock said the Phillies kicked around the idea of signing Zambrano in the offseason, but once they signed John Lannan to a big league deal, it became obvious it would be difficult to get Zambrano to agree to a minor league deal because his chance of actually making the 25-man roster weren't good.